Of Links and Laws
by Ravenwood240
Summary: Four years ago, before they knew about the Prophecy, or that children can’t do things, James and Rose modified the Twinbond they’d been born with into something more. The reason they did so, and the method they used has been their secret ever since. Her
1. A Casual Question

_A/N: Four years ago, before they knew about the Prophecy, or that children can't do things, James and Rose modified the Twinbond they'd been born with into something more. The reason they did so, and the method they used has been their secret ever since. Here is the story behind that decision, and the reason James won't let any evil go._

_I will say, before you start reading this, that the actions of the villain are from recent news, and while my villain is going to get what's coming to him, the things he does are horrible, and while I will not be graphic about it, some of the things in Chapters two and three are purely disgusting to anyone with a shred of decency._

_**Of Links and Laws**_

The group of students known as Chimera were sitting around their table in Manticore Hall. James and Tiffany were sharing the loveseat, reading a book, while Rose was sprawled in her window, and the others were spread out around the table in their favorite chairs.

Being a Saturday, they were relaxing, finishing their class assignments or just staying dry. It was cold outside, with a hard rain falling, keeping even the most avid Quidditch players indoors.

Emma and Hangeld were finishing their Potions essay, and Lisa was reading over the data that Jerrick's spy network brought in each week. Melissa was writing something, and the most active one of the bunch was Adam, who was sketching the group, trying to capture the distinct personalities of the group on his canvas.

Adam watched as Melissa looked up from her notes, and spoke to James over the link. They used a private link, so Adam didn't hear what Melissa asked, but the response she got was obvious. James, Tiffany and Rose jerked, and looked at each other. They spent a few minutes talking on their own link, and then James turned back to Melissa, shaking his head.

The negative answer surprised Melissa and set her to watching the twins with a slight frown on her face. Adam watched the three of them for a few more minutes, and then his curiousity got the better of him. _"Melissa," _he sent, over a private link, _"what did you ask them?"_

Melissa looked at him and went back to her research. _"I'm working on the links right now, and part of that is explaining why we did it in the first place. Since James and Rose modified their Twinbond before they even knew about the Prophecy, I simply asked them why they did it."_

Adam frowned. It seemed like a simple enough question. _"They wouldn't tell you?"_

"_No, all James would say was that they had reasons."_

Adam thought about that as he continued to sketch. He was trying to figure out why the twins wouldn't tell them why they changed the link. Chimera already knew about the Codex, so either the Evans Clan had more secrets to hide, or James and Rose did.

Adam opened a private link to Lisa, and told her about it, hoping she could figure out what they were hiding. Lisa considered it, but couldn't make any concrete statements about what they were hiding. While he was talking to Lisa, Adam noticed that Emma and Hangeld were talking to Melissa while watching the twins.

James was watching the various conversations, and using the Twinbond to talk to Rose. Tiffany was the only person that was not in one conversation or another, and while all of Chimera knew that she knew whatever it was that the twins were hiding, they also knew that she would not tell them anything she learned from the Soulbond unless James said it was OK.

James opened a link to all of Chimera. _"I don't suppose y'all would just accept that we had our reasons, and leave it at that?"_

"_James, the why of a thing can be just as important as the how," _sent Melissa.

Lisa nodded, and added her viewpoint. _"Not to mention, the secrets you two tend to keep tend to be rather extreme."_ Most of Chimera looked toward Gryffindor Tower as Lisa reminded them about the Codex.

James and Rose stared at each other for a few minutes, talking over the twinbond that was the very thing under discussion. James finally turned back to the waiting group. "_Rose has convinced me that we should tell you, but before either of us say a word, I will hear each of you swear on our link that you will never tell anyone what you're about to hear."_

Chimera looked at each other. Melissa was frowning. _"How can I properly document the links if I cannot explain why you did it?"_

"_Melissa, get with me," _said Rose, _"and we'll write something that is true without opening this can of worms."_

Lisa was looking at the two of them. _"Is hearing this story going to make us accessories?"_

"_Yes, it is."_

Chimera looked at each other as James calmly admitted they had done something illegal.

Emma cocked her head. _"Just how many rules did you two break anyway?"_

James smiled thinly and ticked them off on his fingers. _"Using magic on a Muggle. Using magic to commit bodily harm. Underage use of magic. Using magic to impersonate a Deity to a Muggle. Using magic to create supernatural fear in a Muggle. Using magic to avoid capture or prosecution."_

"_James you forgot the Muggle laws. Violation of the Mann Act, Kidnapping, Hindering prosecution and the rest."_

James shrugged. _"Like they matter? No Muggle will ever be able to prove we had anything to do with it, and so long as that is true, I'm not going to worry about it. I don't think we can be charged under the Mann Act anyway, since we were underage as well."_

By the time the two of them stopped talking, the rest of Chimera had so many questions that nobody could make himself or herself heard over the link. James waited until the babble stopped and looked at them. _"If you really want the answers to all those questions, I will hear your oath first, or wee don't say another word."_

The five members of Chimera that didn't know what was going on looked at each other. James and Rose had just admitted to breaking some of the highest laws of the Wizard world, and from the sounds of it, a bunch of Muggle laws as well. If anyone ever found out, the two of them would be in more trouble than anyone the British Wizards had ever heard of, with the exception of Voldemort.

Lisa turned to Tiffany, who was watching them all._ "You know what they did, and why. Do you have anything to say about it?"_

"_What they did was wrong by the laws of both Wizards and Muggles," _she said, and then looked at each Chimera in turn, _"and if I had been there, I would have helped them every step of the way. What they were trying to stop was infinitely worse."_

The members of Chimera that didn't know the story looked at each other. Emma was the first to give her word, and the others followed.

James listened to their oaths, and sat back on the loveseat, cuddling into Tiffany in a motion that was purely reflex after three years of being bonded.

"_This is a long story, and it starts a couple of weeks after we turned nine."_

_A/N: For those of you that are not familiar with American laws, the Mann Act prohibits the taking of minors across state lines for immoral purposes, or to hide the child from their families. One of the most common violations of the Act is when somebody over the age of eighteen helps somebody under eighteen run away from home so they can be together._

_Hindering Prosecution is just another way of saying you aided a fugitive._

_James and Rose broke those laws and a shipload of Wizard laws to boot._

_Why? Ah, for that answer, you'll just have to come back for the next chapter. I will warn you that this story was inspired by recent headlines, and is evil in a way that no person should ever be evil to another, certainly not a child, and likely to be disturbing. It will have the highest rating this site allows._

_Raven_


	2. The Beginning

_**Of Links and Laws**_

_**The Beginning**_

James Evans was preparing to pull a prank on a classmate when an emotional twinge from Rose made him stop. He looked over to where she was sitting, an abstracted expression on her face. He crossed over to his twin's side and sat down next to her.

"Rose?" he said, making the one word a question.

She sat there for a second, and then shook her head as she looked at him. "Vision" was all she said and all she needed to say.

Over the last few weeks, Rose had experienced a couple of these visions and many more nightmares. They all showed her different scenes, and one of the scenes had come true when a classmate had broken his arm on the playground. After that, they had averted another scene. In her vision a younger child had followed a ball into the street and been hit by a black car with gold rims. In reality, James had stopped the ball from rolling into the street, and watched as the black car came by just seconds later.

James frowned at the increasing turmoil in Rose. "Tell me."

Rose looked around the playground until she saw the person she was looking for. She indicated the quiet blonde girl sitting under a tree reading. "Mary will be dead in a week."

James froze as he absorbed what she had said. He looked at Rose again, reading the emotions she was keeping off of her face, and made a guess. "Dead, or killed?"

"Killed," Rose confirmed, and looked at James. "Family."

James turned to stare at her. James was intensely loyal to his family and friends, and what Rose was suggesting was nearly impossible for him to imagine.

Rose gave him a bigger shock. "She's been hurt for a while now."

Nobody growing up in this day and age could mistake what she meant, and Rose felt James's anger flare. She looked at him quickly, but he damped it back down, studying the young girl with the look he usually reserved for injured animals. Rose watched him while he thought about it.

"Authorities," he said finally. "This is too big for us."

Rose relaxed, agreeing with him. "How do we tell them, without mentioning visions?"

James shrugged. "Carefully," he said flippantly, turning his thoughts to the problem. He looked around, checking that they were alone, and lowered his voice. "Magic," he said, "Something to make your voice older, and an anonymous call."

Rose frowned at him. "The Law," she reminded him. Rose meant the American Code of Magic, the rules that governed the conduct of Wizards, Witches, Medicine Women, Shamans, and the other practitioners of Magic in the North American Federation. Covering Canada, the United States and Mexico, those rules regulated all the uses of magic. One of those laws restricted the unregulated use of magic by minors. What James was proposing to do would break that law as well as the one forbidding the use of magic to file a report with the Muggle authorities.

James grinned at Rose. "Calculated Risk."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Dad should never have taught you that phrase," she complained.

James smiled as he ruffled Rose's hair. "It's a sound principle."

Rose reached out and poked him in the ribs. "Used for making business decisions, maybe, but not when you're about to enter an animal's den, or climb a cliff."

James smiled and held up his hands, acknowledging the hit. He sobered then, and turned his attention back to Mary. "We've got work to do. Go find Michael, Flower Child, and see if we can use his room and potion stuff right after school."

Rose got up and left as James pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket and started making notes on some things he'd want later.

"_Hey, wait a minute," Lisa protested. "You hadn't gone to any Wizard schools yet, so how could you do this?"_

_James scratched his head. "Rose and I had started training with Rolling Thunder and White Owl in the Indian magic nearly a year earlier, and Mom had started teaching us even earlier. Mom doesn't believe you should have to wait until you are eleven to start learning control and technique. She thinks that lessons learned early are better."_

_Melissa nodded. "My family does the same thing, and we agree with her. The earlier you start learning the rules and practices, the easier it is for you."_

_Rose continued the story._

After school, the twins were home with their cousin, Michael Evans. In Michael's room, James went to his potion equipment. After looking it and Michael's supplies over, he scratched out a couple of things on a list and handed it to Rose. "Supplies."

He then turned to Michael. "I need your copy of the Family book."

Michael chewed his lip, looking at James. He'd seen the twins in many moods, but this intense concentration was new, and given how well he knew them, slightly worrying. "You're not going to get me sued, are you?" he asked, trying to ask for an explanation subtly.

James flushed. "No, and if anyone asks, I did the whole thing. You and Rose can go play video games. In fact, you are going to play video games, until I am done."

Michael sighed. "One of these days cousin, you're going to jump into something too hot for you to handle."

He got up and pulled the Evans Clan spellbook from the top of his closet. James took it with a word of thanks and began flipping through it, looking for a particular spell. By the time Rose got back, James was ready, and gently but firmly pushed both of them out of the room.

Rose looked at Michael and shrugged. "The mad scientist is at work again," she said with a smile as the door closed behind them.

Michael's smile turned to laughter as James replied, "I heard that."

An hour later, as Rose and Michael were playing Super Mario Brothers 2, she looked up, staring toward the back of the house. "Darn him," she said, annoyed.

"What?" asked Michael, confused.

"James slipped out the back. He's gone to run an errand I should be doing."

Michael shook his head. It was downright spooky, how close the twins were. They played the game awhile longer, but Michael finally shut it off, because Rose's attention was elsewhere. He watched her, noting that she still chewed on the ball of her thumb when she was worried.

"Would you care to tell me what's going on?" he asked, in an effort to distract her from whatever James was doing.

Rose looked at him, measuring him. Michael Evans was a typical member of the Evans Clan, being tall and dark haired, with the emerald green eyes that marked a member of the clan as clearly as a sign. Rose hesitated, and then shook her head. "It's better if you don't know about this," she said quietly.

Michael nodded. From the way James had been acting, he had thought that was going to be the response he got. The twins rarely asked for anyone else's help, a fact that had gotten them in trouble several times, and landed James in the hospital twice. "Family, Clan or Personal?" he asked.

Rose shrugged, thinking about it. "Personal, but serious." She added a short phrase in the family hand talk, and Michael hissed in surprise as he jerked upright.

"Damn," he said, as he thought about what Rose wasn't saying, and what she had said in the hand talk. "I really don't want to know about this, do I?"

Rose grimaced, and looked at him. "I wish I didn't know about it." The two of them sat in morbid silence until James came back.

He looked at Rose first. "Sorry," he said, "my responsibility."

Even Michael got that one. "James, no one that knows the two of you will ever believe one of you did anything without the other one knowing about it."

James looked offended. "We aren't joined at the hip, you know."

Michael snickered. "No, you might get away with something then. You two are joined at the mind."

James was about to say something when he closed his mouth. Rose was very familiar with the intense concentration James was displaying to their link. Despite her teasing, he did think about the things he did, even if his idea of an acceptable risk was vastly different from that of the rest of the world.

James was thinking about something and his goodbyes to Michael were distracted. The twins walked in silence to a local bookstore and slipped inside.

The BookWorm was a smaller store, and it appeared to be just another bookstore from the outside. It carried a selection of new books, and a larger selection of used books in the front of the store. All in all, it was just like a thousand other bookstores across the country.

Unless of course, you could do magic, and see the door in the back wall.

James and Rose headed for that door after greeting Dakota North, a local Witch who owed her name to parents that were more than a little eccentric. They stepped through the door and grinned at the tall man standing there.

He looked at them and smiled. "You two are running late today; you barely have time to get home for dinner."

James and Rose both smiled at their Uncle. "It's a Portkey, Uncle Alexander. As long as we have enough time to wash, we'll be on time," Rose said.

The Evans estate was several miles from town, and it was much easier for the twins to come here than for their parents to come and get them every day, especially during the Northern Montana winters, when people might have started wondering how they always managed to get into town, no matter what the weather.

James was still thinking about whatever had attracted his attention in Michael's house, and he looked at Alexander. "I need some research material. What's the best book on links, like mine and Rose's?"

Alexander frowned. "I couldn't say right offhand. It's not a common subject, but I can have Dakota look it up tomorrow."

James nodded, giving it a minute's thought. "I need the best two, and a copy of 'Bindings of the Heart, Mind and Soul'. I'll pay for it the next time I'm in the store."

Alexander wrote it down, and looked back up at them. "Talk to Dakota tomorrow after school. Right now, I think you have to get going, or Portkey or not, you're going to be late."

They said goodbye, and activated the Portkey. The large house that local Muggles called the Evans Mansion was nearly ten miles out of town, and presided over nearly eight thousand acres of land. Built by Elbert Evans in 1840, it was the house he wanted, the ranch headquarters, and the biggest place for nearly six hundred miles then.

In his life, Elbert Evans had exemplified three qualities. The first allowed him to indulge the other two. He had been a financial wizard; turning everything he touched into money. He had also been in love with the idea of being a big time cattleman, like the cheap novels Muggles wrote about the West. He had moved west, and bought the old Drainer place, adding onto it until he had the ranch he wanted. The minute he had his ranch, he started building his house, which had very large rooms since the third thing Elbert had been was claustrophobic. He had insisted that every room in his house be large enough to keep him from having panic attacks, and since he was a millionaire several times over, he got his way.

James and Rose joined their parents for dinner after changing into formal robes. Robert and Mary Evans took their children's education very seriously, and that included proper behavior in most social situations. James and Rose could get greasy at a barbeque or make polite small talk at a formal dinner with equal ease.

Elbert Evans had started the Evans fortune, and his heirs had been careful with his money. If they couldn't make more money with it, they didn't lose any, and now the Evans Clan was listed as one of the richest clans in America. Had anyone but the current head of the clan known everything that they were into, or about the other business they controlled, they would have been known to be among the richest in the world.

"_You own more than Cumulus?" Emma was the speaker, but the question was plain on every face except Tiffany's._

_James grinned and nodded. "But that does not go outside of Chimera, people. In fact, consider it covered by the Ice Binding Oath."_

_Rose agreed with her brother. "Cumulus belongs to the current head of the Evans Clan, but that company belongs to the person bound to the Codex."_

_A chill passed over Chimera as Rose mentioned the thing in the Chest, and most of them looked toward the tower where James kept it safe from use. Lisa shook off the thought of the Codex, and looked at the twins curiously. "The other business must be well hidden if Jerrick hasn't found it by now." Chimera waited to see what the twins would say, but James only turned to Rose and invited her to continue._

James and Rose went to dinner and made the expected small talk, but their minds were far away, and they excused themselves as quickly as they could. After doing the dishes in record time, they went into the media room and turned on the television. Tuning to a local station, they waited for the news.

When the local news came on at last, the lead story froze their blood. Children Protection Services, acting on an anonymous tip, had investigated a local home. During the interview, the CPS representative had decided that there was enough evidence to act, and had called police to take the children away.

Before the police had arrived, the father had pulled out a gun and shot the representative. When they did get there, neighbors said the father had been gone for nearly twenty minutes. The police had taken the CPS person to the hospital, and he was in surgery, in critical condition.

The police were setting up roadblocks across the state, looking for the father. The mother was out of the state and could not be reached.

The last bit of the story was a description and pictures of the two little girls he'd taken with him.


	3. Desperate Measures

_Hopefully, those of you who are reading this will not be disappointed in this chapter. It's a bit short for my work, but chapter four will be a bit longer, and a whole lot faster. (See my profile for an explanation.)_

_**Of Links and Laws**_

_**Desperate Measures**_

James and Rose looked at each other, shocked at the response their actions had brought about. In an attempt to save Mary from the fate Rose had seen for her in her vision, they had notified the Children's Protective Services that she was being abused. When the CPS went out to her house to investigate the allegations, the father had shot the CPS representative and run away with Mary and her younger sister.

James was cursing under his breath. He stopped suddenly, looking at Rose. "Find?"

Rose frowned as she stopped fretting and began thinking about ways to find the girls. She nodded slowly. "White Owl."

James nodded. He had figured that Rose would want to see the Medicine Woman that was training her in the ways of Medicine, and for that matter, he wanted to talk to Rolling Thunder about this. "Tomorrow."

The twins passed a restless night and were quiet at breakfast. Mary Evans looked at the twins she'd borne nine years ago, and let them be. James was not raging, or being reckless, so she figured that whatever they were worrying about would wait until they came to her. That decision would haunt her later.

Directly after the last class of the day, James and Rose headed for the Flathead reservation just north of their house. Robert Evans' mother had been a Flathead Indian, and Robert still maintained close ties with the People.

Those ties had become closer when Rolling Thunder and White Owl had chosen the twins to be trained in the ways of the Shaman and Medicine Woman the year before, and it was to see those two that the twins flew out to the reservation now.

James left Rose in the small town where White Owl was and flew on to the forest, guessing correctly that he would find Rolling Thunder in the Medicine Lodge.

James entered the lodge quietly, removing his shoes first, and sat down. He took a deep breath of the herbs Rolling Thunder was burning during his meditation. They sat in silence for nearly half an hour and then Rolling Thunder spoke in Lakota. "Wakan Takan Kici un."

James returned the Great Spirit's blessing that the old man had gifted him with and waited while Rolling Thunder examined him. "Dacoo ya cheen hey?"

James told Rolling Thunder about Rose's visions and what they had tried to do, and what had happened. "Doe kay sh kay lay ay cha moo ktay hey?" James waited for the Shaman's advice.

Rolling Thunder sat and thought about the subject that was troubling his apprentice. He hid a smile at the thought that only this apprentice would bring him something like this. He looked at James again, using the Spirit world sight that was his to call at will after so many years. Coyote still had his mark on James, not an unusual thing, as the Spirits marked almost everyone at one point or another, but this mark had been there as long as Rolling Thunder had known James, and that was unusual.

Of course, White Owl claimed the same mark sat on Rose and that she was learning the Medicine ways faster than most, especially the magic of Divination. That she was having visions did not unduly surprise the old Shaman. That James had acted as he had did surprise him. James rarely stopped to think about his actions beyond the need of living though his adventures, and Rolling Thunder wanted to encourage that.

He looked at James, who was still waiting for advice. "Oyate kin liglila iyapi na untunkiciye wacinpi eyaš wana toktukta cana hotankapi k'un hena tukteni taninpi šni."

James nodded. "So I have seen, but that is not my way, to hold back and ignore a wrong." James sighed as a memory rose up unbidden. "I did that once, and the cost was far too high."

The older man knew what James was talking about and nodded. He searched for the words to tell James what he needed to hear. He frowned. Lakota did not have words for a lot of what he wanted to say, and he had never learned to speak good English, for reasons that seemed foolish now. "Hay también muchos conceptos que no tenemos palabras para. Sabe usted hablar este pozo de la lengua bastante¿o debo echar el encanto de la traducción?"

James blinked as Rolling Thunder changed to Spanish. He frowned and finally shook his head. "I ningún lo habla bastante bueno hablar de esto."

Rolling Thunder chanted a quick phrase in Lakota and suddenly James could understand every word of the Shaman's Spanish. He could tell that the older man was hearing James' words in Spanish as well, simply by his expression.

Rolling Thunder lit his pipe slowly and then looked at James. "Usted intentó hacer una buena cosa, dentro de los leyes de los ojos blancos, y para usted que esp. una buena cosa. A veces sin embargo, los leyes se deben poner a un lado para la justicia."

(For those of you that do not speak Spanish: "You tried to do a good thing, within the laws of the White eyes, and for you that is a good thing. Sometimes though, the laws must be set aside for justice.")

James blinked, and smiled at the old man. "Well, it was not entirely inside the law, but I get your point. I have to live in the town, and trying to fix this under the law was the right thing to do. So why do you think the law should be set aside if necessary?"

Rolling Thunder thought about how he wanted to answer that question for several minutes. He wanted James to be able to look beyond the law if he had to, but he didn't want James to get the idea that he could brazenly break the law either. "Sabiendo donde está una la línea entre la ley y las mentiras personales de la libertad de las cosas que separan a hombre de un muchacho, Moondancer. Piense de él, y cuando le hacen hágase una pregunta. Si usted no hace nada¿puede usted vivir con las consecuencias de su inacción?

("Knowing where the line between the law and personal freedom lies is one of the things that separate a man from a boy, Moondancer. Think about it, and when you are done ask yourself one question. If you do nothing, can you live with the consequences of your inaction?")

James frowned as he thought about it. He took his leave of the Shaman, and walked into the woods. About a mile from the lodge was an old oak tree and James climbed up into the branches with the ease of a task done many times. He climbed to one particular branch and leaned against the tree.

Rose watched James go into the woods heading for the lodge and turned to the house where White Owl lived. She knocked on the door and White Owl opened it after a minute. She looked at Rose and pulled the door open wide. "Enter and be at peace, child."

They walked into the living room and White Owl sat down in her chair. "Something troubles you," she said without preamble. "Tell me about it."

Rose told her about the situation. "James and I are going to try and find the girls, but I don't know what we're going to do after that." Rose explained what she had planned on doing.

White Owl nodded slowly. "It will work, but you will need a personal item that belonged to the girls to find them."

Rose grimaced. "I know, but it's the only chance we have to set this right, after we caused it."

"You said that the girl would have died if you had done nothing, correct?"

Rose nodded.

White Owl shrugged. "Being alive is better than dead, even in the worst situation. Situations change."

She looked at Rose. "Have you told Moondancer about the dreams?"

Rose looked away. "No."

White Owl looked at Rose. "He cannot know about this yet. He must accept what comes of his own will. Your brother is quite capable of deciding that he will not be controlled, even by a Prophecy. If he does not do this thing that looms before you, even the best of us cannot see the future, for Muggles or Wizards."

White Owl knelt by Rose. "You have seen the dreams. Do you want to live them?" At Rose's shudder, White Owl continued. "You are the logical one of your pair, that will be the brain of your being. Moondancer is the heart, and does things not from his head, but from his heart. Until he feels the need, he cannot know about this."

Rose looked at White Owl. "I hate keeping things from James." She looked away. "He is the one I need to talk to, the one that helps me see things clearly, and not to talk to him about this is hard."

Rose raised her head, looking toward the woods. "James has decided something. He's coming back, and he's got that feel to him." She stood up and looked at White Owl. "I gave you my word, and I will keep it." Rose looked up, toward where she could feel James approaching and then back at White Owl, and her eyes were hot. "But if this secret damages my relationship with James, I will not step foot on this reservation ever again, and that too is a promise."

Rose left, and White Owl went to the window, watching the twins walk away. "If you knew that the spirits watch over you, child, you would be even more worried."

Rolling Thunder moved up next to White Owl. "They will have lives that will be glorious."

White Owl looked at her friend of more than thirty years. "Glorious? Yes, but we both know that those the Spirits watch rarely have long lives, or happy ones." She looked back at Rose. "I had hoped she would replace me. I am tired, and wish only to rest now, but I will have to find a new apprentice again, and train her."

Rolling Thunder shrugged. "We knew that they probably wouldn't stay when we started training them. We trained them because neither of us could resist helping to start a legend, even if the only thing that is remembered is that we trained them early in their lives."

White Owl was staring at Rolling Thunder. "Have you lost your mind? You know perfectly well that we claimed them because the Great Spirit sent us omens we couldn't ignore."

Rolling Thunder grinned at his colleague. "Then why are you fussing at me?"

White Owl smiled at Rolling Thunder. "Who else would I fuss at? You are the only one that understands what we did, and what we're going to."

James and Rose spent the trip back to town discussing what they were going to do. At Uncle Alexander's bookstore, Dakota North stopped James. "Here are two of those books you wanted. I had to order the other one, it will be here in a couple of days."

James took the books and grinned. "Let me know as soon as it gets here, would you? I'll even make a trip into town on the weekend, if it comes in then."

Rose and Dakota stared at James. "You'll leave your woods on the weekend for it?" Dakota said, astonished. "What is it, the Book of Creation?"

Rose was staring at James as well, and just as astonished. James had spent every weekend he could escape the house in the woods since their parents had first allowed him to stay out overnight. Not even the encounter with Silverpaw or the wolves had changed that. "What?"

James grinned at her. "Just let me know when it gets here, please." He led the way in back, and didn't say anything else until they were home.

Rose was nearly beside herself as she waited until they were in James' room. "Give."

James grinned as he started to open the first book. "Silent."

He looked up at Rose. "Ranged, also."

Rose stared at James. He was saying that he thought he could give the two of them the ability to talk without words. "How?"

James didn't even look up as he started to read. "Twins."

Rose frowned. It was true that they had the link that some twins were born with, that allowed them to feel each other's distance and direction, and if they concentrated, the emotional state of the other person. James wanted to build on that, did he? Rose nudged James, and they laid down head to head with the book between them. They began reading the book and that is where their mother found them when she came to get them for dinner.

Mary raised an eyebrow at the number of notes James was making as he read. She'd watched them read like this for years, and she still didn't understand how they did it, or how they told each other when to turn the page. "Dinnertime is in 30 minutes, kids. It's casual night."

James didn't look up and Rose barely glanced up. "Ok, Mom."

Mary went back to the kitchen in time to take a large sandwich from her husband. "Robert, you know better. Dinner is in less than thirty minutes."

Robert Evans smiled at Mary. He looked around the kitchen. "Where are the kids?"

Mary raised an eyebrow. "Working on something. Judging by the number of notes James is taking, this should be a good one."

Robert smiled widely. "Making money already. It's good to know that we will leave Cumulus in good hands." He sighed wistfully. "I do wish I could figure out how they modify those spells though. Do you know how much that would save us each year?"

Mary just sighed, having heard that comment at least once a week since James and Rose had started selling pranks to their school age friends.

The twins were absorbed in whatever they were doing at dinner, speaking rarely and mostly to each other in those one word sentences that confused everyone around them.

After dinner the twins went back to James' room and Mary had to tell Rose to go to bed.

Late that night, James' window opened and he flew away, dressed in dark colors and staying close to the shadows of the night.

Rose was sitting on her bed using the twinlink to follow his progress. She knew when he got close by the rising nervousness in him, and when he found the right house.

James drifted down into the backyard and crossed quietly to the back door. He placed a disk that would start barking like a dog if anyone but him came close to it and tried the doorknob. It was locked and he frowned. He got the pouch of disks he carried all the time these days and dug through it looking for one particular disk.

He placed the disk on the door and waited the few seconds until it activated. The door clicked open and James felt a surge of triumph. He made a note to tell Rose that the disk worked and slipped inside. It only took him a few minutes to find Mary's room and he slipped a hairbrush with a few hairs in it into his pocket. The other girl's room was right across the hall and James quickly found a small doll that had seen many better days.

He started back out and froze. The disk he had left in the backyard was barking. James turned and started toward the front door only to drop as headlights turned into the driveway, briefly silhouetting him in the front room.

He looked around desperately, looking for a place to hide. He ducked into a small pantry as someone opened the front door.

Rose had felt it when he found the things they needed, and then the apprehension. When that had turned to worry and then to panic, she'd nearly gotten on her broomstick, but James had calmed down and now he was nervous but not overly so.

Rose was not prepared for the burning rage that suddenly swamped the link, but she'd felt this before, and she automatically started trying to calm James. It was not working very well and Rose was seriously beginning to think about confessing to their parents before James did something rash.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the feel of James started back. She tracked him, frowning. James wasn't even trying to stay hidden right now, not moving that fast he wasn't.

He was soon back in his room and Rose gave him a couple of minutes to calm down and change before she went over there.

She slipped into the room and looked at James, who was pacing around the room. He looked at her and his eyes were still hot. "The mother knew."

Rose blinked, and then paled. "She knew?"

James snarled. "Oh yes, and didn't care."

James started talking. He told Rose how he'd gotten into the house and found the things they needed, and how the alarm on the back door had warned him, and then the car had come.

"I ducked into a pantry, hoping they'd go upstairs or something so I could get away." James started pacing again as he talked. "Mary's mother came in the front door and went directly to the back door. She let some guy in and they started talking."

James started getting angry again as he thought about what he'd overheard. Mary's mother had had Mary young and gotten married unwillingly. She didn't like kids, and Mary would have been an only child if not for an accident with the Muggle birth control she used.

She ignored the kids as much as she could, much as she did her husband. She'd found out about two months ago that her husband was using Mary to relieve the needs his wife wouldn't do anything about anymore.

James looked at the shocked Rose. "She said, and I quote, 'I was glad actually. It meant that fat slob would leave me alone.'"

Rose paled in horror and James stopped pacing, pulling his sister into a hug against the things they'd learned. James quietly related how he'd gotten out of the house when the man and Mary's mother had started having sex in the living room.

James closed his eyes and Rose could feel him using the calming exercises he was learning from Rolling Thunder. "We can't send those girls back to her."

Rose nodded. "We can't leave them with him, either."

James nodded, watching Rose closely as she considered what their father might be doing to them right now. They discussed the problem for nearly an hour and had the start of a plan in place when Rose went back to her room.

The next morning they went to school, and sat through the classes without hearing much except the thoughts in their heads as they planned their actions.

After school, they walked slowly toward Uncle Alexander's store, discussing what they were going to do.

"Weekend." Rose nodded. They would have to do this soon, before those girls got hurt any worse.

"Communications." James shook his head. If this spell he was working on worked, that would not be a problem.

"Linkspell." Rose frowned. She knew what he wanted to do, but she wasn't sure if even their ability to modify spells was equal to this task. James grinned. He knew that the spell would work, although he didn't know how he knew. "Calculated Risk."

Rose rolled her eyes, and spoke a sentence anyone would have understood. "Bite me."

James ruffled her hair and started walking again. They entered the bookstore and greeted their Uncle.

Alexander Evans looked at the twins and then looked again. "What are you two up to now?" he asked them bluntly.

James and Rose looked at him and then at each other. James finally turned to Alexander. "We can't tell you, yet."

Alexander considered this blatant refusal while he stared at the twins. A member of the Evans Clan would not lie outright. They would dance around the truth, avoid the question entirely, make excuses, or do whatever it took, but they would not lie. The problem with that was that every member of the Clan knew it and they were very good at asking questions that got right to the important aspect.

When that happened, the person being questioned had just two choices; tell the questioner what he wanted to know, or refuse to answer. That would tell the person asking the questions that there was something being hidden of course, but not what.

Alexander was considering the chances in the twins over the last week and the look they were wearing today, and wondering if he should press this matter when James sighed.

"A debt of Honor. We owe it, and we have to pay it."

Alexander frowned again. If this was a debt of Honor, he could not interfere. James looked around and spoke quietly. "We have done something to bring harm to an innocent, and we must set it right."

Alexander sighed as his hands were tied. That was a debt of Honor, and until the twins tried and failed, there was nothing he could do. "I never should have taught you two about that," he said, looking at them. "You will tell me about this as soon as you can though, understood?"

The twins nodded and continued into the back of the shop. Dakota North looked up as they came in and held up a package. "Your book arrived about an hour ago."

James took it with an absent thank you and tore the wrapper off. He stood there, skimming the pages until he found the section he wanted. He read for a bit and then handed the book to Rose. "Read."

Rose looked at the indicated section. She skimmed it and then went back and read it carefully. "Possible." The book was a collection of spells that dealt with bonds, both spiritual and mental. The spell James had pointed out was designed to temporarily simulate some of the effects of a Soul bond. Rose was frowning, until she realized that the supply list for the potion was quite similar to the one they used to adapt the "_Victus_ _Magicus_" spell for their disks.

She looked at James. "Disks?"

James shook his head. "Self."

Before Rose could question James about it, he turned and got their Portkey from Dakota. The twins ported home and James led the way to his room. He began talking while he scribbled notes everywhere on two sheets.

Rose frowned at him and took one of the sheets. She began copying the notes on another sheet, organizing them, just as she did every time James started to modify a spell.

By dinner James had the modifications done and Rose was frowning slightly. It was never this easy. She tried to say something to James, who merely shrugged. "Rose," he said, speaking normally for once, "it will work, and we have to be able to communicate without anyone knowing we are for what we have planned anyway. We can always undo it later if it becomes a problem."

After dinner they went back to James' room and James started setting up for the spell.

Rose looked around, and then looked into James' cauldron. "Not on your life."

James looked up, confused. "What?"

Rose pointed at his cauldron. "Bits."

James looked into the cauldron, where there were small bits of whatever he'd made last in there. He shrugged. "Never hurt before."

Rose took the notes and started toward her room. "I am so not drinking whatever you were making last week."

James sighed and followed her to her room. Rose set up the cauldron while James found the spell they would be casting. This was a ritual spell, unlike a normal spell.

A spell requires a motion and a short sentence to be cast, such as "_Finite Incanteum_". A ritual spell on the other hand, requires that the casters gather in one place and brew their potion while they chant a spell over it. Most of them are short, less than an hour, but some few are days long.

This was one of the short ones, about forty minutes long. James finished setting everything up the way he wanted it and showed Rose her part of the verbal spell.

The twins looked at each other and started the spell. They chanted, and every so often one of them would add the next item to the bubbling cauldron between them. About twenty minutes into the ritual, the contents of the cauldron turned gold and began glowing.

As the ritual progressed, the gold glow became brighter and brighter, until neither of them could look at it. Just before the end of the spell, the glow seemed to flow over the side of the cauldron and spill across the floor toward the two children. They watched it nervously as it flowed across the floor, touching their shoes, and starting up their legs.

By the end of the ceremony, they were both covered in the golden glow, and it was so bright they had their eyes tightly shut against the glare.

As they put the last bit of feather in the potion, they both felt something, like a tap on the back of their heads, and then the glow disappeared instantly. They looked at the cauldron, where the gooey mess was cooling off and congealing in the bottom of the cauldron.

Rose frowned at it. "_I hate cleaning the sticky goos out. It takes forever."_ Rose was thinking about cleaning her cauldron and debating leaving it for tomorrow.

James was frowning at his notes, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. "I'll help you clean it in a minute."

Rose froze, staring at James. "_James?"_

"What?"

"_I haven't opened my mouth since the spell ended."_

James looked up and smiled. "_I knew it would work, I could feel it_." He thought. "_I can't wait to rub it in."_

"_You do, and I'll spend a week thinking about the Lumbermen."_

"_No need, I've already forgotten what I was going to rub in."_

The twins practiced with the new ability even after they went to bed, and they were so silent the next morning that Mary checked them for illnesses.

Friday they had set the rest of their plans and only had to cast the spell that would locate the girls for them. James could not help with this as it was a Medicine Woman thing, and Rose was forbidden to tell any male about Medicine.

James waited in his room trying to work on a prank, but he finally gave it up. He could feel Rose working on the spell but without know how the spell worked he had no idea how it was going.

The spell Rose was casting required her to set a circle. Many of the Indian spells required the caster to ask the spirits for help, and when one calls for a spirit, sometimes spirits you don't want to talk to answer the call. A circle of protection would keep the malicious or evil spirits out while allowing the ones you want in. Rose was going to try to work the spell by calling on one of the friendly ones that she had used before.

Rose checked her preparations and when she was satisfied that everything was right, she took a deep breath and began the ritual that would allow her to call for a Spirit Guide.

Rose finished the beginning of the ceremony and began the Calling. She stuttered in surprise when the Spirit was there before she finished the first Call.

"_Why are you so surprised, Flower Child? You rarely call on us, despite your skill. When you do, it is always interesting."_ The voice that came from the mind of the Great Horned Owl sitting in the middle of Rose's circle was dryly amused.

"I would ask for your aid in finding two innocents. Moondancer and I have placed them in danger, and we must save them."

The Spirit cocked its head in that strange way only an owl can do. _"The Moondancer is involved? Of his own will? Allow me into your mind, Flower Child, that I may see the entire story."_

Rose bit her lip, but gave the Spirit permission. She felt the Spirit looking at her memories and shivered a bit. How James could do this regularly was beyond her.

"_I know you do not like to share your mind, but I had to see, and it was a test of your determination in this matter. I will help you, Flower Child. Wait here but one moment."_ With that comment the Owl disappeared and Rose took a deep breath again. She studiously refrained from scratching her skull. The visit of a Spirit always left her feeling as though her head itched.

"_Go ahead and scratch, youngling, I know how it makes you feel and I know why. One day soon, you will understand as well." _The voice in her head was amused again.

Rose blushed, but did as the Spirit said. You don't Call a Spirit and then ignore its first bit of advice. Rose did not need an annoyed Spirit hanging around this weekend. She didn't want one hanging around causing trouble any weekend, but this weekend it would be bad.

"_The man has taken the girls to a place where armed men hide from the White Father's soldiers and police."_ Rose jumped as a map fell from empty space to land at her feet.

Rose finished the ritual, bidding the Spirit goodbye after thanking him for his help. She took down the circle and picked up the map. She took it to James. James pounced on it. _"Good work, Rose."_ He examined the map carefully. _"Here we are, and they are just over the state line in Idaho. If everything goes right, we can have them back here in less than fifteen hours."_

James tossed a bag to Rose. _"New toys. You might want to examine some of them before you use them."_

James pulled his haversack out from under his bed. He double checked the contents and put it back. _"I'm ready to go at first light. Get some sleep. I think tomorrow is going to be a long day."_ By now, the silent speech was as natural as talking to them, and they used it exclusively when they were alone.

Rose looked at him, seeing the anger simmering under the surface. She concentrated on him and felt the anger. _"James, you cannot go looking for revenge. We will leave the man for the authorities, after Mary and her sister tell their stories."_

James looked at her. _"I will not look for revenge, Sister mine, but if the chance comes, I will take it."_

Rose went to bed, thinking sleep would avoid her, but it seemed that she'd barely lay down when James was calling her. She got up and got her haversack and Broomstick.

James and Rose stood on the porch and looked at each other, searching for doubts or second thoughts. When they didn't find any, the two children lifted off, looking for two children they felt responsible for.


	4. Rescues and Retribution

_**Of Links and Laws**_

_Rescues and Retribution_

James and Rose had been flying for over an hour when they made their first stop. They had been flying over forest until now, but that was about to change. As they approached the Idaho border, they would start running into towns and farmlands and they had to be careful. Being seen by Muggles would be bad, but being seen by Wizards would be worse right now. They ate the food that they had brought for breakfast and then James pulled two disks out of his pouch.

They attached the disks to their broomsticks and waited for them to activate. The activation created a sphere of "don't notice me" around the Broomsticks that would prevent all but the most strong-willed people from seeing them. Anyone else would simply not notice them.

"_Rose, look at this. We're here,"_ James said, spreading the map out. _"Here's where they are. We should be in the vicinity in about two hours. Then, I want to hole up and scout around a bit. We think it's only Muggles, but I want to be sure about that. Plus, you said that the Spirit you called told you that this was a place 'where armed men hide', and that makes me nervous all on its own."_

Rose nodded emphatically. _"It makes me a bit more than nervous."_

The two of them took off again, using an old compass to maintain their direction. No one who spent as much time in the woods as James could do so without being able to read a map, and they took full advantage of that to skirt the most populated areas, where they stood the most chance of being seen.

It actually took them more than three hours to get to the area they wanted, but only because they stopped to stay dry during a short rainstorm. When they reached the area they wanted to be in, they slowed and James soon found an abandoned den.

"_What is it, with you and the animals?"_ Rose said as she looked at the den. _"I swear, you're more comfortable with them than you are people."_

"_They're honest, with no hidden agendas, no lies or false faces to say one thing while doing another. If they don't like you, they let you know right up front. If they want something, they tell you. No fugue, or doubletalk, just pure honesty." _James looked at Rose. _"Do you remember meeting that one idiot, the one who was so proud of being royalty?_

Rose grinned, as she remembered it. _"You mean James Scott the fourteenth, the one that claimed he was descended from the Duke of Monmouth. The one that tried to get some backing for his claim on the throne?"_

"_That's the one. Remember how he said we were 'colonial whelps' until he found out how much money the family has?" _ James looked disgusted. _"Then it was a different story."_

"_I also seem to recall that he had a few problems with the wildlife. How did you get Silverpaw to pee on him anyway?"_

"_I was the one that freed him from that trap, remember? I just asked him." _James grinned at the memory. _"Anyway, the animals aren't like that. They let you know right away what they think of you, and that doesn't change unless your actions do something to make them change their opinions."_

Rose sighed, remembering the times people had changed when they found out how rich they were, or how high their family stood in the Book of Gold. The twins had learned quickly that not everyone wanted to know them for who they were, but for their things or bloodlines. _"You're going to have to deal with it, James. It isn't going to change any time soon."_

James turned to Rose and grinned. _"I may have to deal with it, but I can be any way I want to be, because we are rich. It will just be written off as a quirk."_ James looked bitter for a second. _"Simply because our ancestors made money, people will allow us to get away with things that people with less money can't._ He smiled then, a sneaky smile with definite overtones of smirk. _"I'm going to cram that right down their throats. I'm going to be as brutally honest and upfront as a wolverine."_

Rose sighed. _"James, we do have to be polite to the people we're going to be doing business with. We have a responsibility to the family and the company."_

"_That's why I have you. Do you remember that show we watched at Michael's house? That movie about the policemen?"_

"_Yes, why?"_ Rose thought as James grinned at her. _ "You want to play that good guy/bad guy thing. You'll be the rude one, making them eager to deal with anyone else."_

James smiled. _"Except I won't be rude, just honest._ James sighed and returned to their current situation. _"Nothing personal, but you should stay here. You just don't have the experience to sneak around the woods."_

"_Maybe that's because I don't want to be Tarzan?"_

James blushed. _"Flower Child, you remember too much. That was a passing desire. Anyway, I'll go scout around. If there are Muggles with guns, this is going to be a bit harder."_

"_James, we already know that there is at least one Muggle with a gun, and he's used it."_

"_I know."_ James left his haversack with Rose. He hugged her briefly, surprising her. James wasn't a physical person. "You be careful, sister mine."

"You too."

James slipped out, using the 'don't notice me' disk that had been on his Broomstick to help him hide. As soon as he was out off Rose's sight, James stopped and used the Shaman skills Rolling Thunder had been teaching him. He found a hawk and used its eyes to look for signs of humans.

It didn't take long for the aerial survey to find something that didn't look natural. James noted the distance and direction and headed that way, telling Rose what he was doing. It took about twenty minutes to get to that area, and as he got closer, James stopped again and found a chipmunk.

Keeping the small creature high in the trees, he used it to look ahead, and he was soon glad he'd done so. Barely a hundred meters in front of him was a hidden deer stand with two armed men in it. James sent the chipmunk as close as he dared, trying to overhear the men.

"What do you think of that new guy?"

"He knows his weapons, but he's an as." The man stopped. "Here comes our relief."

"These four hour shifts are a lot easier to do, aren't they?"

"No shit. Those eight hour shifts were killing me."

The two men climbed down out of the stand and two other men climbed up. James watched them for a few minutes, but all they talked about was some woman and her tits. He sent the chipmunk away with his thanks and thought.

He started down the path, whistling and being as obvious as he could. He stopped and threw a rock, and started back down the path.

"Hey you."

James jumped as if he was startled and looked around, pretending not to see the man in camouflage clothing standing by a tree. "Who said that?" he called. He didn't even have to pretend to be nervous, as he was very aware of the other man pointing a gun at him.

The first man stepped out from behind a tree. "What are you doing here, boy?"

James looked at him, and shrugged. "Just walking the path. My family is back that a way. I just wanted to see what was out here."

The man looked back the way James had come. "I suggest that you go back that way. There are military ranges this way, and you might get hit by a stray round."

James frowned. He took a chance. He looked at the man's uniform carefully. "Uncle Alexander has taught me to recognize the uniforms of the military. You're not wearing one." He looked at the man. "You're a militia man, aren't you?"

The man looked at him. "And if I am, boy?" His voice had changed, growing colder.

James shrugged again. "No skin off of my nose. Uncle Alexander says that most of the Militias are good people."

The man grinned. "We like to think so. Your Uncle sounds like a smart man. You should be as smart, and avoid this area. It may be a Militia range, but a stray round is still a stray round."

James nodded. "OK," he said. "Hey, what kind of gun do you use?"

The man looked at him for a minute, weighing him. "Do you like guns, boy?"

James shrugged. "Like them? No, but that are a fact of life, and a tool. Like any other tool, everyone should know how to use them. I was just hoping you had one I hadn't seen before." James was actually hoping to find out if the group had civilian weapons or the illegal automatic weapons.

The man reached behind the tree he was standing next to and pulled out a rifle. "Do you know what this is, boy?"

James looked at the weapon and his blood chilled. He took a step closer, looking at the side of the weapon. "Yes. Uncle Alexander showed me one similar. You have a Russian built AK-74, one of the good ones, made in Russia of milled steel, instead of one of the foreign copies, which are stamped." James gave silent thanks to Uncle Alexander's belief that everyone should know about firearms, even if they would never use them, and the lessons on the most common ones.

The man grinned at James. "You do know your weapons. That's a good thing."

James nodded, looking around suddenly. "_Rose, use the beeper, I need to get out of here._"

He finally looked up. "I knew there had to be more than one of you." He waved at the man in the tree, who had put his weapon away when it became apparent that James wasn't a threat.

Just then, James' pocket beeped. He pulled out a pager and looked at it. "I have to go. See you later."

The man waved at him. "See you around, kid, but don't forget what I said about this area."

"I won't," James called as he started jogging back down the path. He went about a hundred meters down the path and looked back. He hadn't been followed. He found another chipmunk and sent it close to the men.

"Every child should be as well trained as that one was."

"Yeah, but the government would never allow it."

"That's why we're out here, isn't it? Because we believe in the Constitution as it was written, not as some knee-jerk liberal thinks it was written?"

"Yeah, but we'll have to wait for the rest of America to see what the liberals are doing to us before we can act."

James left the chipmunk and started back toward Rose. _"Good news and bad news. They're Militia men, but not one of the paranoid freaky groups. They sound like Constitutionalists."_

"_James," _came Rose's weary thought,_ "how is that good news? Uncle Alexander said they are well equipped and trained. That means automatic weapons and skill."_

"_It also means that they won't start shooting without a target. That gives us a bit more leeway in what we do."_

James got back to the den without encountering anyone and crawled inside. _"That was interesting,"_ he said mildly. He used the link to tell Rose everything. They started planning the rescue.

In little more than an hour, they had the basic plan mapped out, with a couple of options, in case something went wrong.

It wasn't elaborate, it wasn't even all that sneaky, but it did depend on the group being Muggles, and since James hadn't seen or sensed any kind of ward or magic, they were assuming that.

They waited for dark and started out. Both of them were wearing the 'don't see me' disks and they had added another disk, one that made any sound they made seem to be sounds that small animals would make.

James led the way to where the stand was hidden and stopped. Rose sat down and waited while James found an owl. He checked the stand and grinned. There was only one guard and he was using a small flashlight to read a girly magazine.

He let the owl go and they started down the path, staying off to one side, using the trees to stay out of the sight of the man in the tree.

Once they were a good distance past him, James moved about ten meters in front of Rose and started using the skills the Indian children on the Reservation had taught him, and Rolling Thunder had expanded on when James started training with him.

It was about ten minutes later that they saw the first lights of the camp, and James had Rose sit down while he went ahead.

They had a stroke of luck this night, as all of the adults except one guard at the front gate were in a central meeting place, listening to a man talk about the Constitution. James growled softly as he saw the man they had chased this far sitting in the audience looking bored. _"Rose, can you find the girls?"_

Rose pulled out the doll and chanted something softly in Lakota. A few seconds later, she felt a warmth on one side of her face. She turned in the direction until the warm feeling was on her face. _"I can."_

"_Then let's go get them, while the adults are busy."_

The two of them followed the warmth on Rose's face until they reached a dozen small shacks. Some of them had lights on and they avoided those until Rose stopped before one. _"They're in there."_

James sighed, looking around._ "When we have them, we'll have to go around back and go straight through the woods. I don't think they will be very good at sneaking around. We'll have to get far enough away that we can get them on the Broomsticks and get out of here."_

James had Rose wait while he scattered a couple of the barking dog disks and approached the door. As he'd suspected, it was locked, and James used the same disk he'd used to break into the Muggle house. The door opened and James peeked around the corner. He frowned as he saw nothing.

The two of them slipped inside and shut the door. James pulled a chem stick from his haversack and broke it. In the dim glow they searched the house, becoming more worried as they didn't find the girls. It wasn't until they were nearly done that James stopped Rose.

He could almost hear something, but his ears weren't good enough to make it out. He reached, looking for an animal nearby and he found one, a mouse that was in the kitchen. He entered its mind and started using its ears. The sounds were much clearer to the mouse, and James sent the mouse looking for the source. The mouse quickly found a crack in the floor and James released it.

He went to the crack and examined it. It was a carefully concealed trap door, and they soon had it open. Under it was a small space, apparently designed to hide in during emergencies.

James tossed a chem stick in the hole and the two children paled at what it revealed. Mary and her sister were in the hole, lying on the bare dirt. Mary was looking at them in fear but her sister was calmly ignoring them, and humming softly to herself.

Mary recognized them. "Rose? What are you doing here?"

James turned away. "You explain it to her, I'm going to find their things." James was beginning to seethe with anger. The two girls in the hole were as bare as the dirt they were on.

James went in the back as Rose started getting the girls out of the hole while she explained what they were doing. James found a small knapsack with some clothes in it and was just heading back when the front door slammed open and the lights came on.

James ducked behind a door and looked out. Mary's father stood there with a gun pointed at the three girls.

Rose stepped in front of the other two girls as Mary's father looked around. "I know you, girl. You're one of the Evans brats. What are you doing here?"

Rose squared her shoulders. "I came to take the girls away from you."

Mary's father stared at her for a minute and laughed. "You didn't even see the alarm on the trapdoor. How were you planning on getting out of here?"

He frowned. "For that matter, how did you get in the camp?"

James was digging through his pouch. This disk was not one he wanted to use, but he didn't have a choice right now. _"Rose, don't show any surprise."_ James waited for her acknowledgement.

He activated the disk and stepped out from behind the door. The man turned and paled. James didn't know what he was seeing exactly, but he knew what the disk was supposed to do. It would read your emotions and show you a supernatural aspect of whatever God you believed in.

"I guided her. You have lost the right to have children with your actions." James supposed the manifestation's voice matched whatever the man saw.

The man stared at whatever he saw and shook his head. "You can't be real." His gun came up and he fired at the thing he saw.

James nearly fainted as he felt the bullet pass over his head by an inch or so. The manifestation was taller than him, and the man had fired at its chest. "Put that away. You cannot hurt me with it, and I am not here for you, yet."

Keeping his voice steady just then was the hardest thing James had ever done, and only the knowledge that Rose's life hung in the balance here kept him from fleeing.

The man stared at the unhurt thing before him and looked around wildly. He saw the girls and a maniacal look crossed his face. "If I can't have them, no one will have them."

He raised the gun again and fired before James could do anything. He was aiming at Mary and Rose pushed her out of the way.

James froze as pain boiled up in Rose and she disappeared from the new link. He looked, and Rose was lying on the floor.

Blood was pooling around her.


End file.
